Ripple in the Water
by FlowerOwl
Summary: After coming to terms with being lost at sea, Zelda had given up all hope of salvation. So was it really so strange that she could not believe her own eyes when she saw a girl swim up to the tiny plank that had been her only hope of survival for so long, smiling at her with an undecipherable twinkle in her eyes?


Above her, the clouds made their way across the sky, the changing shade of the canvas behind them, slowly going from blue to orange to a dark purple, letting her know that time was passing. Had it not been for that, the physical manifestation of how the world had not stopped spinning the moment she had been thrown over the edge of the ship, Zelda might truly have thought that she was all alone out there, trapped in the same moment of fear that had filled her as she had fallen through the air, helplessly reaching for anything she could hold onto to slow her fall, before she hit the surface of the ocean below her. And who knew, perhaps that was really what had happened. Maybe she was only imagining the passage of time as a way for her to cope with what now seemed inevitable.

For after having spent days on the wooden plank she had found herself lying on when she had first opened her eyes, every last muscle in her body aching, only to see that both the storm as well as the ship had disappeared, Zelda seemingly being the only one who had been lucky enough to survive, she did not dare to hope to be saved. Not anymore at least. For although she had known even then that, with the ship gone and the plank that had kept her from slipping into the water again bearing the crest of the royal family, the jagged edges telling her how the storm had torn it off the side of the ship, the chance of anyone ever entertaining the thought that she might have survived was almost non-existent, for the longest time, Zelda had truly believed that it was only a matter of time before someone would come to save her, before someone would realise that some miracle had flung her so far away from the ship that she had not been hit by the debris—the flames, embers, pieces of wood and metal already filling the air before Zelda had been hit by the wave and thrown into the ocean—and attempt to save her. She had been a fool, she had known that from the very first moment she was first struck by the idea of how a ship would soon appear out of the mist that made the world around her seem endless, having come there to bring her back home, and yet, it was not before the sun had disappeared behind the horizon for the third time that she truly realised how this would be the end for her.

She should have been sad. Zelda knew that if she had known that this was what it would lead to when she had taken the guard's hand to let her help her step onto the ship, she would have pleaded with her father to let the journey wait for another day, but as she lay there, staring up at the sky, barely finding the strength to blink as her eyes stung, it all felt too distant, like this was all happening to someone else entirely, for her to begin to understand what was about to happen.

Next to her head, Zelda was sure she heard something.

Slowly moving around and trying not to wince as she was forced to use her right hand to keep herself upright for a moment, even the slight pressure making her wrist ache, the pain that shot up through her arm letting her know that the red colour and swollen skin was not the only thing that had happened to it, Zelda told herself not to expect anything. Most likely, a fish had made the sound, swimming through the water and coming so close to her plank that Zelda, the many lonely hours having made her so aware of her surroundings that she would not have been surprised if she had been able to hear a butterfly flying past her face, had been able to notice the sound of the water having to make way for it as it almost seemed to fly through the ocean.

As she pulled herself closer to the edge of the plank, the shards of broken wood that covered the end of it digging into the palms of her hands and looked into the depth below, Zelda could not help but wonder what would happen to her when the thirst was finally able to claim her life. Although she knew that it was the last thing she should do, knew that it would only make her feel even worse, possibly bringing her already imminent death even closer, the urge to reach out and cup her hands to bring the water back to her mouth in an attempt at quenching her thirst seemed almost too tempting to ignore. After all, she was already all but dead, all that was left for her now were the next few days that would no doubt be even more torturous than the first, so, really, was the option of at least doing something, to let herself feel better, even if it was only for a moment, not the better choice?

It was in that moment, the second where Zelda summoned the strength needed to move her hands into the cold water, she saw it, the short glimpse of something red among all the blue of the ocean. It was there for barely a moment before disappearing again, and yet, Zelda's heart beat faster than it had done in days as she withdrew her hands, pressing them against her chest as she searched for the source of the colour. Already, her mind was spinning, but this time, it was not only the thirst that made her head ache as she tried to remember the contents of the books on the sea life in the royal library, trying to recall anything that would be able to explain what she had just seen. But no matter how many times she tried to imagine herself walking along the long rows of bookshelves, looking at the different books, hoping that it would help her remember, Zelda could not figure out the answer.

Perhaps she should have been afraid. After all, it was not unheard of for sailors and fishermen to swear that they had spotted some new kind of shark in the ocean, telling stories of broken nets and fish that were already half-dead when they pulled them out of the water, the bite marks that adorned their bodies not looking even remotely like anything anyone had ever seen before, and if Zelda had been able to focus without her entire world exploding into blinding bursts of white, white-hot pain flashing in her brain, she would perhaps have thought to move closer towards the middle of the plank, praying that the metre that the plank spanned from one end to the other would be enough to protect her from any attack. But fact was that as Zelda leant closer towards the water, barely thinking to make sure that she would not fall into the ocean, the last thing she felt was fear. Rather, a sudden sense of hope at the thought of her at the very least not being completely alone out there made her limbs feel a little lighter, despite how foolish as it was of her to think that the glimpse of something had been due to anything other than a colourful fish swimming past the plank.

Zelda moved closer towards the surface of the water, the combination of her leaning in and the energy it required for her to do much more than that threatening to leave her entirely making it so that it was only sheer determination that made her able to keep her head out of the water, the salty scent of it hitting her nose as she leant so far over the edge of the plank that she was not sure anymore if she would be able to climb back onto it or if she would simply slip into the water to meet the same fate she feared had awaited the rest of the ship's company at the end of the storm.

And then the red flashed again, this time moving from one side of the plank to the other.

Hearing the sound of her pulse speeding up slightly as her heart almost appeared to attempt to leave her alone out there, Zelda quickly pushed herself back towards the centre of the plank, biting back a scream as the splinters of wood pushed into her hand, her wrist making a sound that she knew meant it was broken. However, all of that seemed unimportant as Zelda crawled across the piece of wood, the distance between her and the other side seeming to stretch on into eternity, before she was finally able to lie down and search for where the mysterious creature had gone.

Below her, the ocean almost seemed to mock her for her hope of catching another glimpse of the red scales, remaining dark, reminding her of how the hope for her to be able to make it back home was nothing but wishful thinking.

A pair of amber eyes suddenly appeared, staring back at her.

Zelda stumbled backwards, already trying to make sense of what she had just seen when the back of her head hit the wood beneath her as the push had proved to be more than what she had strength for. There had been someone in the water, someone whose eyes looked so much like her own rather than the usual blank gaze she would find in the fish that would occasionally swim close enough to her for Zelda to be able to observe them.

But that could not be the case. If there really was anyone down in the water, Zelda knew that they would have been dead a long time ago. With the temperature of the water feeling like it was much colder than anything Zelda had ever touched before those few times she had let her arm hang over the edge of the plank just to be able to feel something, not even to mention how her little makeshift raft was the only thing able to keep someone from drowning as far as she could see, it would simply not have been possible for those eyes to have been real, twinkling with life rather than merely reflecting the light from above, with the glassy shine in them making it clear that they would never see anything again. She had to have imagined it, that was the only explanation that made sense. The days without food or water spent underneath the warm sun had finally made her mind unable to tell imagination from reality, so that she was now seeing exactly what she wanted to see—a sign that she would not have to die alone out there.

Taking several deep breaths, Zelda carefully pulled herself back over to where she had seen the pair of eyes, trying to tell herself how she would not to allow herself to begin to hope for it to have been real. After all, it was only the product of her mind finally having given in to the effects of being lost at sea. Entertaining the idea of it having been any more than that would only lead to her losing her very last bit of hope when she would inevitable see how she had been wrong.

She found herself silently repeating that as she looked back into the ocean, prepared to find herself looking into nothing but the blue depths of the sea.

But as Zelda finally managed to make her eyes focus, the blurry edges of her vision slowly creeping closer and closer towards the centre, she saw that the eyes were indeed still there. Huge and unblinking, they almost seemed to regard her with the same kind of amazed confusion as Zelda felt wash over her when she found herself forced to admit that there really was another person down in the water below her. As Zelda dared to inspect the water more closely, she could see that, although she had at first only been able to see the eyes, the stark contrast between them and the rest of the ocean as well as the dull ache that ran from one side of her head to the other making it all but impossible for her to focus, someone was looking up at her, a girl who looked to be about her age, tilting her face backwards to be able to look directly at her, her body disappearing into the darkness of the ocean so that Zelda was only just able to make out the vague shape of her shoulders as she looked up at her.

Feeling oddly calm, Zelda leant in closer towards the other girl, almost like she could force herself to recognise who she was, to see more than what her tired eyes and the way the sun was only able to illuminate a fraction of the water allowed her to do. Her father would no doubt have told her to be afraid, to assume the worst and simply plan for this girl being there to attack her, but Zelda did none of that. With how she was already stranded out there without any hopes of survival and would most likely find that her body would only be able to take it for a few days more, she doubted that the situation could become worse. So although she should perhaps have been scared, fearing for her life, Zelda could only feel a strange sense of joy that, even if this girl really was there to kill her, at least she would not have to lie on the plank anymore, unable to do anything but look up at the clouds' journey across the sky while waiting for the moment where the lack of food and water would finally grow too serious. No matter how many stories she had heard about how the guards had been summoned to a fishing village to see how the body of a dog that had been a little too adventurous had been washed ashore, the flesh almost completely removed, all of the tales suddenly flying through her mind as Zelda gazed into the eyes in the water, the feeling of acceptance that this was really her fate did not disappear, not even for a moment.

The girl disappeared, and Zelda barely had time to let out a tiny scream, her voice hoarse and rough after the many days without water, as something red and scaly shot out of the water, before disappearing again, hitting the water next to her plank, the waves it sent towards her almost making Zelda fear for a second that it would tip her raft over. If that happened, she doubted she would be able to find the strength to climb back up onto the plank, and despite how she had wondered about what would be the most painful way to die more times than she would have liked to admit over those last few days, the option of drowning had always been the one thing Zelda had not dared to think about, the fear of sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean making her freeze long before she could have considered it.

However, the moment of deep, blinding panic soon passed, as Zelda rolled towards the other side of the raft, praying to every goddess that might hear her not to let it tip over. To her amazement, it somehow worked, her weight having been enough to let her remain lying on top of the plank.

Whispering a short prayer to the goddess to let her known how she was thankful for her luck, Zelda opened her eyes again, only to find herself face to face with the same girl she had seen in the water before. Or, at least, Zelda assumed it was the same person. Given her blurry vision and how her brain felt like it was trying its best not to allow her to string two thoughts together, Zelda would not be able to say for certain, but there was something about the twinkle she saw in the other girl's eyes that told her that this was the same person who had observed her from underneath the raft.

But although she might not have been able to say for certain if she had seen her before, Zelda still knew that this girl did not look like anyone she had ever encountered back on land. For not only was her eyes much brighter than what Zelda was used to seeing, the pupil almost seeming to take up a quarter of the space, her almost eerily pale skin also looked like it was glistening as the rays of sun hit her face, making sure that Zelda would not have been able to miss how the person's dark red hair continued into the ocean where it floated around her shoulders, making it so that Zelda could not tell exactly where her body ended and the hair began due to how they both shared the same red colour.

"Who…" Zelda whispered, but the sound was so quiet that, had it not been for how every syllable made her throat feel like she had consumed fire, she would not even have been able to tell that she had attempted to say something. Forcing herself to speak louder, ignoring the pain that followed along with the attempt at making it so that the other person had a chance of hearing what she said, Zelda tried again. "Who are you?"

The girl tilted her head. It was only then that Zelda realised that perhaps she did not understand what she was saying. The moment the thought struck her, it seemed so obvious, that of course someone she met in the middle of the ocean would not speak the same language as her, but even then, Zelda could not deny that a part of her was still clinging to the hope that she was wrong. For, considering how even trying to form a sentence in Hylian almost felt like it was more than what she was able to, Zelda doubted that she would be able to try to ask the same question in any other language. And that was assuming that the girl would even speak one of the languages Zelda knew.

But, finally, she opened her mouth, and while Zelda had to use every last bit of strength to focus on the words to be able to understand the sentences, at least she was able to understand it, no matter how much the rhythm and the way of pronouncing some of the words differed from what she was used to hearing back at home.

"I am Mipha," the girl said, pausing for a moment to look at her, almost like she was waiting to see whether or not Zelda would be able to understand her.

Zelda nodded, trying to form a smile to let her know that she had understood, but found that her lips were so dry and chapped that even the slightest pull was enough to make the surface of them crack, the metallic taste that filled her mouth letting her know that she was bleeding.

Thankfully, it seemed that the tiny gesture was enough for the girl in front of her to know that she was listening, for she continued, "and I assume that you must be Princess Zelda of Hyrule—at least I found a trunk with that name on it inside the cabin of the ship." Mipha's voice rose a bit during the last half of the sentence as she resumed looking at her.

She should perhaps have felt something as the implication of what she was hearing dawned on her, how the ship had really sunk, most likely ending the lives of everyone on board, the people who had been alive only days before, laughing along to the music the ship's company played to entertain them when they had nothing else to do, but right then, Zelda was too tired to do much else than to give Mipha a simple nod. Did it really matter if everyone was dead when she knew that it was only a matter of a few days before she would join them as well? Once, Zelda knew that she would have insisted that it did, that every time a life was lost, it was a tragedy and should be mourned as such no matter what problems the survivors were otherwise facing, but it seemed that the days she had spent on the plank, contemplating what looked like it would now never be much more than her short life, Zelda had grown wiser, wearier, and most of all, more pessimistic. They had all been doomed the moment they had stepped onto the ship and left the port to journey to Termina—did it really matter exactly when they had all died?

But as the other person continued to look at her, Zelda slowly came to the realisation that she was waiting for her to say something, to do more than just lie there.

Although Zelda would have lied if she tried to say that the thought of how every word could possibly be her last, the memory of how the bite marks that had covered the fish the fishermen in Lurelin Village had complained about being so vivid that it felt like she should have been able to reach out and touch them each time she closed her eyes, did not make tiny tendrils of fear twist around in her stomach, the possibility of Mipha leaving her alone again scared her even more, so she willed herself not to think about the pain that followed as she slowly opened her mouth once more. "Yes," she whispered, "I am her, I am Zelda."

"Hello, Zelda," Mipha said with a smile, but the smile quickly disappeared as her gaze flickered from Zelda's face towards where her arm was still hanging over the edge of the raft, her fingers brushing against the surface of the ocean, "what has happened to your wrist?" she moved closer towards her, already reaching out towards her hand.

But even though Zelda knew that she should have found the strength to pull her hand back up onto the raft, to hiss at Mipha to leave her alone, in that moment, she realised that, even if she had had the energy to do so, she still would not have moved at all, and the next moment, Mipha had gripped her hand, her fingers feeling strangely cold and soft as they traced over the back of her hand, stopping just before she would have touched the swollen area around her wrist.

"Zelda," Mipha said, and perhaps it was simply something Zelda was imagining, but, in that moment, she could almost have fooled herself into thinking that the slight edge to her voice was one of worry, "I think I can do something that will make you feel better. Will you allow me to try it?"

Right then, Zelda knew that she would have said yes to anything, desperately wanting to ensure that Mipha would not leave just yet. And with how Mipha sent her a tiny smile as she reached out to place her hand on top of Zelda's wrist, Zelda was almost able to ignore how even the slight hint of pressure Mipha applied to the area while she closed her eyes, a slight crease between her eyebrows telling Zelda how, although might have looked like she had given up, this really could be what Mipha had meant when she had offered to help, was almost enough to reduce her to tears.

Finally, the pain subsided, instead being replaced by the sensation of bones moving slightly, the skin around them reducing the swelling as Zelda was almost able to feel how her bones mended, the broken wrist soon feeling like she had never fallen into the ocean in the first place, hitting it against the side of the ship in her desperate search for anything she could use to keep herself from entering the blue depths below. But it was more than just that. Not only did the throbbing pain no longer keep her from being able to move her hand, the blurred edges and the black dots that danced in front of her eyes each time she tried to move were gone as well, Zelda feeling more at ease than she had done in days. No, as she allowed herself to notice how she could feel her feet again, the toes that had already been as cold as ice when she had first climbed up onto the plank growing warmer with each passing second, Zelda realised that this was all somehow what Mipha had talked about, something she had done.

"What—" Zelda began, and the sheer surprise of noticing how the words did not felt like knives in her throat anymore was enough to send her into a stunned silence, the shock only broken when Mipha moved closer towards her, "what happened? What did you do?"

"I just made sure that your body would be able to survive," Mipha answered, holding her hand out towards Zelda who took it, almost expecting to see a hidden vial full of a healing elixir, for some kind of herb to be lying in her hand, but to her surprise, she could not spot anything that could explain why she was feeling much better than she had done in ages. Perhaps Mipha noticed the confused look in her eyes, for Zelda had barely looked back at her, before she nodded towards something in the water between them, "look here, then I promise you that it will all make much more sense."

Zelda did as she was told. Although her brain, now aided by the help she had just received from Mipha, the help that began to seem more and more like pure magic as the seconds passed without her being able to think of any other explanation for what had happened, would surely have been able to create a mountain of scenarios, fears that should have been enough for her the scream and move away from the edge of the raft and towards the safety it had provided so far, she did not hesitate for even a second before she leant out over the edge of the plank, now able to place more weight over the ocean without fear of falling over and not being able to climb back up.

For a moment, Zelda could not see what Mipha had talked about, what she had wanted her to see that would explain everything, but as her eyes grew used to the way the waves around them would distort her vision slightly, she saw it.

There, under Mipha, where Zelda was still halfway expecting to see a pair of legs kicking in the water to allow Mipha to remain so still, was a tail, not unlike that of the dolphins Zelda had sometimes watched break the surface of the sea from her chambers back in the castle. Even as it swayed back and forth in the water, Zelda still saw how the red scales that covered almost the entirety of it, leaving only the fin free, was the exact same shade as what she had caught a glimpse of before.

But it could not be. It simply could not be. When Zelda had first seen Mipha, she had been so sure that, despite how her gut told her that it had been a slightly different shade of red, she had caught a glimpse of Mipha's hair before, for that was the only thing that would have made sense. This was not something she had ever heard about before, other than in the stories the sailors would tell while attempting to impress Purah, Impa always running over her sister to make sure that she would not promise to help with the search to find concrete proof of the existence of mermaids. For that was what this meant. The tail, the way Mipha had suddenly appeared in the middle of the ocean when Zelda should have known better than to simply tell herself that she was just a good swimmer, the fact that Zelda's wrist wasn't swollen and bruised anymore.

A mermaid.

"Uh," Zelda said, and no matter how hard she fought to look back up at Mipha, all too aware of how rude she was right then, she could only gape as she continued to stare at the tail, "are you—"

Mipha interrupted her, and Zelda was thankful for how she finished the sentence for her, sparing Zelda from having to admit that her entire world had just been turned upside down. "A mermaid? Yes, I am."

That was what made Zelda finally find the strength to tear her gaze away from the tail to instead look at Mipha's face. She was smiling at her, the gesture revealing a sharp set of teeth, and in that moment, Zelda could recall every single instance of her father looking up from yet another letter he had received from somewhere in the kingdom, muttering something about how yet another fisherman had lost part of their catch to some mysterious creature that seemed capable of swimming close to the shore to rip the nets apart before disappearing again without being seen. Back before, Zelda had been able to ignore the way her father had shook his head, mumbling something about how the wolves seemed to have grown bolder, going so close to the towns, even swimming to ensure that they would be able to steal the food, deciding that, if she were to tell him how she thought they should handle the issue, he would only become angry and tell her that, until she would become the queen, the kingdom was his responsibility and not hers. But now, with Zelda lying on a tiny piece of the lost ship, Mipha holding onto the edge of the wood as she smiled at her, the question of just who had eaten those fish suddenly seemed very important to her.

"So, what now?" Zelda asked, and as much as she tried to fight it, wanting to at least appear brave, she could hear how her voice broke, the fear making her chest feel tight, pushing the air out of her lungs. She had to force herself to pause, to take a deep breath, before she was able to continue, and even then, Zelda knew that the twinge of fear that had been present in her voice before had only grown stronger, until it felt like it was practically all she could hear. "What…what happens to me now?"

Drawing her brows together, Mipha cocked her head, and although the smile faltering meant that Zelda could not see the sharp edges of her teeth anymore, for some reason, that did not make her feel better, her heart sinking in her chest at the same time as the childish need to see the smile return to Mipha's lips echoed in her mind, pushing every other fear and worry away.

"What do you mean?" Mipha asked, and although Zelda tried her best not to allow herself to let the hope bloom in her heart, searching for any indication that Mipha was only pretending not to know what she was talking about, waiting for the moment to attack, she could not hear anything in her voice that would have shown how she was not being entirely honest.

Zelda swallowed, trying her best to supress the urge to shed tears of joy as she realised that the only reason she was able to do that was what Mipha had done when she had touched her wrist and healed the bone that had caused her so much pain over those last few days. "I mean… I have heard a lot about how some fishermen have found fish with bite marks and how a dog that had ventured into the ocean was washed ashore with almost no flesh left on its body, the marks left behind on its bones being unlike anything we could recognise."

"And now you are worried about whether or not I will pull you into the ocean with me to drown you?" Mipha said, finishing the sentence for her.

As she said it, Zelda could feel the shame rise in her almost like those few times she had been ill as a child, pushing everything away until it was the only thing she was able to pay attention to.

But although Zelda did not answer, it seemed that Mipha could still find the answer to her question written in her eyes, for she continued before Zelda had even opened her mouth to attempt to explain herself. "If that is the case, please trust me when I say that you have no reason to fear me."

Although she knew that it only confirmed the theory about what she had been thinking Mipha had shared with her, Zelda could not help but look up at that, the relief surely being apparent on her face.

However, from the way Mipha sent her a tiny smile, the saddened look in her eyes completely unlike the way she managed to make the smile appear sincere, she seemed to be aware of that already. "While it is true that I have sometimes taken the haul from some of the nets when I have been close to one of the villages where it seemed they had plenty of fish, I have never and will never deliberately do anything to harm another person. And while I can't say the same for everyone in the ocean," the smile Mipha sent her, the way she barred the sharp eyetooth, made Zelda suspect that perhaps wars were not only waged on land, "I know that everyone in my kingdom will agree with that. So have no fear, Zelda, I am only here to help you."

Her father would have told her that words could be deceiving, the lies dipped in honey until the venom would only make itself known when it was already too late, but as Zelda looked at Mipha and the way she continued to look directly at her, her gaze not flickering away from her eyes for even a second, she knew that she was telling the truth.

Feeling how the embarrassment and shame at how quick she had been to assume the worst made even the cold air around her feel warm against her burning cheeks, Zelda nodded. "I know—or, well I know now. I must apologise for doubting you in the first place, I hope that you can understand that I—"

"You have nothing to apologise for," Mipha said, interrupting her apology as she brushed it aside, "you are out here, completely alone, lying on a piece of debris from your ship, and with someone you did not know swimming up to you. Trust me, if I had been in your place, I think I too would have been wary of anyone who would swim so close to me. That is, after all, the wise thing to do. But please believe me when I say that I only want to help you."

This time, Zelda did not hesitate. "Of course I do," she said, "although I must admit that I cannot help but wonder why you are doing all this. Please do not misunderstand this, but I cannot see why you would want to help me. I mean, you have never met me before, and with how the rest of the ship's company must already be lying at the bottom of the sea, does it really matter whether or not I live or die?"

"It matters to me," Mipha said, and there was something about the way she was able to look at Zelda, almost making at appear like she was able to look directly at her soul, that made her feel like she should have tried to hide, to not let her see the way she could feel her cheeks growing even warmer, "I want to make sure that you will survive, so I suppose that answers your question."

She should have stopped. Zelda should have accepted that answer and been grateful that Mipha had revealed herself the moment she had, had reached out to let her magic flow through her, bringing her back from the brink of death, rather than staying hidden in the water. But even as Zelda knew all that, she could not ignore the way her mind was all but begging for answers, so she continued. "But why? Why did you help me when you could easily have left me alone to die?"

The way Mipha paused for a moment, looking first down at her hands, then at the way the ocean and the mist almost seemed to be a continuation of the other, before finally looking back up at her again, told Zelda that she had realised what question she had just been asked and was now trying her best to figure out what her answer should be.

"I suppose," Mipha began after being silent for so long that Zelda almost wanted to cry and simply beg her for a reason, every single instance of her father telling her to remain proud having left her mind a long time ago, "that I felt drawn to you. I cannot find the words to explain it, but when I saw you in the water… I just knew that I had to try to make sure that you would make it back to the shore alive. After that, it was only a matter of how I did not know how to approach you."

Although Zelda supposed that the assurance that all was fine, that she really had just let her fear and the effect the loneliness of spending so many days stuck on top of a tiny piece of wood far away from the shore had had on her make her forget all rational thought, should have made her able to relax, the way Mipha looked at her as she told her that she would survive all this only brought a new list of questions along with it.

So, trying her best to ignore the way it felt almost like she was pulled towards Mipha by some unknown force, wanting to reach out to take her hand again, perhaps trying to use a lie about how her wrist still hurt to excuse herself and to give her a way to save herself from the embarrassment Zelda could already feel flooding over her, she gave her a tiny nod. "I…" Zelda said before pausing, suddenly unsure of what she could say, if there was even anything she could possibly tell Mipha now that would not be sure to make the strange feeling in her stomach grow even more intense. Finally, she settled for simply trying to repeat the layer of the feelings that would be the easiest to explain. "I cannot thank you enough for what you have already done, I… truly, thank you."

Mipha's gaze rested on her for a moment longer than Zelda had expected, almost like she was searching for some kind of hidden meaning to her words. But if that was the case, Zelda did not know just what Mipha was hoping to find, for if she had, she was sure she would simply have told her already.

In the end, it seemed that Mipha found what she was looking for, and as she smiled at her, the look in her eyes was so soft that Zelda might almost have described it as fond, almost so that she would have expected for the air between them to grow a little warmer as Mipha spoke. "There is no need to thank me. Simply getting the chance to meet you and to talk with you have been more than I could ever have hoped for." for a moment, Zelda almost thought that Mipha would have said something more as she let the sentence trail off, mumbling something, her voice so low that Zelda could not hear what she was saying. However, as Mipha took a deep breath, Zelda could tell how she had changed the topic, instead reaching out to pat the plank in front of her. "Here. Lie down, then I will make sure that you will get home safely."

If Zelda had been smarter, if she had been a little less selfish and thought of how she was not only herself, she was a princess and as such responsible for her kingdom as well, she would have demanded to be given an explanation of just how Mipha was planning to achieve such a feat. But she did not, instead obeying without any questions. The rough wood pressed against the side of her face, but as Mipha reached out to place her hand on top of her head, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face, Zelda barely noticed it.

"I am going to make you fall asleep," Mipha told her, "so just relax. I promise you that everything will be fine, it is simply a matter of the journey back to the shore being quite…" Zelda could hear how Mipha searched for the right word, "frightening for someone who is not used to it, so I think it will be best for you not to have to experience it."

Right then, Zelda was sure that, no matter how terrifying the journey back home might be, it would be worth it if being awake during it would give her even a minute more together with Mipha. But as she moved slightly, careful not to make Mipha's hand fall to the side, and looked into her eyes, Zelda knew that she would not protest.

"I understand," she whispered, and the next moment, Zelda saw Mipha close her eyes, strings of what appeared to be pure light flowing from her arm, soon making the air around Zelda feel comfortably warm.

After that, it did not take long for her eyelids to grow heavy, and although Zelda tried to stay awake for as long as she could, desperately trying to keep looking into Mipha's eyes, she soon lost the fight and felt herself slip back into unconsciousness, the lest sensation she registered being that of Mipha letting the tip of her fingers brush against her cheek as she withdrew her hand.

"I have found her!"

Zelda awoke to the sound of someone yelling into the distance, boots pressing the sand underneath them together as they moved closer towards her.

In that moment, the second that divided consciousness from the darkness she had just left, she could not help but wonder why it felt as if she had forgotten something, something important. However, she could not figure out what could it be, what was so significant to her while still being something she would be able to forget.

It was with questions like that flying through her mind that Zelda felt someone reach out, placing their hand on her shoulder and rolling her over to lie on her back, letting her look up at the face of Robbie as he pushed the glasses up to let them rest on his forehead, revealing how his eyes were red and swollen as he sent a cursory glance back in the direction he had come from before once more redirecting his attention towards her.

"Are you all right, princess?" he asked, his voice betraying him, letting her know how, even though he was clearly trying his best to hide it, the alarm was apparent in both his voice as well as on his face as Zelda planted her hand in the sand and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

In front of her, she could see the ocean lie as an endless blue mirror in front of her. Frowning, Zelda tried to ignore the way the waves almost seemed to call for her, teasing her about what she could not remember. She was there, she was at home, the sight of the beach and the way the cliffs on both side of the them had provided her with a perfect area to use when she had learnt to swim when she had been younger being so familiar to her that she was sure she would have been able to draw it with her eyes closed. And yet, Zelda could not forget the feeling of how there was something missing, how she had been supposed to be somewhere else in that moment.

But as Zelda could see how Robbie's expression grew more and more worried with every second she remained silent, she forced herself to ignore the way it made her heart ache when she looked away from the water to instead send him a smile that did not feel convincing at all. "Yes, I am fine. I just… never mind, I think I was just confused."

For a second, she thought Robbie might ask her what she had thought about, but the slight pull around his mouth was gone in an instant as he instead extended his hand towards her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to help her remain upright as he pulled her to her feet.

Although Zelda let him help her walk back towards the castle, she could not keep herself from glancing back towards the ocean one last time.

The waves were still, but even then, Zelda thought she caught a glimpse of something red flashing in the sunlight. However, it was gone before she had realised it had been there at all, and with Robbie talking to her about how they had thought she had not survived the storm, Zelda was soon forced to forget about the feeling of having forgot something important.


End file.
